Intrahepatic islet transplantation is a promising therapeutic option for the treatment of Type-1 diabetes that offers the ability to restore endogenous insulin production. Widespread use of islet transplantation is currently limited by poor survival of transplanted islets due to the harsh environment of the liver portal vein, prompting investigation into...
Intelligent behavior in humans is largely associated with encoding information to discrete symbols. However, symbolic behavior in robotic systems is not widespread, mainly due to lack of tools that constitute symbol-based automation implementable in real time. This thesis proposes real-time algorithms that facilitate and promote symbol-based action and sensing. In...
The development of targeted therapies has revolutionized cancer treatment and markedly increased patient survival time and reduced mortality rates. Yet, some cancers still have few treatment options and remain deadly. In these cases, the development of targeted therapy is critical. Here, we investigated two cancers that lack effective targeted therapies...
This thesis discusses the synthesis, self-assembly, and conductivity properties of novel oligothiophene derivatives with an emphasis on how molecular structure effects the assembly. In order to facilitate self-assembly in conjugated molecules, specific non-covenant forces were included into the molecular design of several derivatives. First, an amphiphilic oligothiophene derivative consisting of...
Solder joint integrity is recognized as a key issue in the reliability of flip chip and ball grid arrays in integrated circuit packages. Significant reductions in the solder-joint interconnect size results in both the increased volume fraction of brittle intermetallics in the joint and joule heating and electromigration failure due...
Kinesin-1 is a motor protein that transports cargo along microtubules. Inside cells, the majority of kinesin-1 is regulated to conserve ATP and ensure its proper intracellular distribution and coordination with other motors. Regulated kinesin-1 is folded in half, and interactions between coiled-coil regions near the N-terminal enzymatically active heads and...
A major challenge in the field of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of safety-critical structures is how to effectively and efficiently detect fatigue damage, especially before there is macrocrack initiation. In this dissertation, a local ultrasonic technique is developed to assess pre-crack fatigue damage in structures. The novel feature of this...
The work of this dissertation was aimed at synthesizing new types of nanoparticle-DNA conjugates, investigating their chemical and physical properties, and exploring their biodiagnostic applications. Chapters Two and Three describe the synthesis of new types of nanoparticle-DNA conjugates: (1) silver nanoparticle-DNA conjugates (DNA-Ag NPs) and (2) 2-nm gold nanoparticle-DNA conjugates...
Filopodia play a central role in proper cell navigation; they extend from the cell surface and scan the local environment to guide the cell to its proper destination. These dynamic events require precise mechanisms for the turnover of key molecules which determine the morphology of filopodia. As of yet, such...
The task of designing porous materials for use in specific applications requires a detailed understanding of the adsorption process and how adsorption is affected by material properties. Applications of interest include maximizing gravimetric or volumetric adsorption capacity for hydrogen and carbon dioxide and increasing the selectivity for carbon dioxide in...